CBI books IRS official for seeking bribe for not framing Aryan Khan

In a fresh twist, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday booked controversial IRS officer Sameer Wankhede for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 25 crore vis-a-vis the narcotics case involving Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan.

The CBI is carrying out raids in multiple locations in India including Mumbai, where the private home of Wankhede is located.

Wankhede’s tenure as Narcotics Control Bureau’s Mumbai Zonal Director has come under the scanner vis-a-vis the Cordelia cruise drugs-on-cruise bust case in October 2021.

NCP leader Nawab Malik, who was then a minister in the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government had carried out a series of exposes on Wankhede and people close to him.

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Wankhede, an officer of the 2008-batch IRS officer had faced several allegations.

A total of 20 persons were arrested during the October 2021 midnight raid and subsequent investigations. The NCB had seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of mephedrone, 21 grams of charas and 22 MDMA/Ecstasy pills during the raid on the Cordelia cruise from Mumbai to Goa.

The Bombay High Court, on October 28, 2021, while giving bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmum Dhamecha, had observed: “There is hardly any positive evidence on record to convince this court that all the accused persons with common intention agreed to commit unlawful acts.”

In May 2022, Aryan Khan was given a clean chit by the NCB saying that the evidence was “insufficient".

After this, the NCB also carried out an internal probe into the issue vis-a-vis the allegations against Wankhede.

Reacting to the development, NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said: “It was Malik who had exposed the corruption and fraud of Wankhede. He used to raid people wrongly and extort money. The CBI has registered a case against him, which means the charges made by Malik were correct.”